Many hotels, restaurants and venues offer valet options for people seeking to park a vehicle. Using a valet service commonly involves turning a key over to a valet and allowing the valet to drive away in a vehicle. This often gives the valet access to contents in the vehicle, any driver personal data stored on a vehicle computer, as well as the ability to drive the vehicle virtually anywhere.
In consideration of the perceived risks of valet services, vehicle manufacturers have undertaken efforts to limit valet vehicle-accessibility. By putting a vehicle in “valet mode”, the driver can limit the access to vehicle interfaces and in some cases, the drivable vehicle range and/or speed. The driver still typically turns over the keys, however, and if the driver forgets to disable the valet mode upon returning to the vehicle, the driver may experience a limited period of restricted vehicle usage and/or restricted vehicle compartment and system access (e.g., lockout of interactive screens and/or locking of vehicle compartments).
Also, in the common model, if vehicle keys are lost or stolen, the driver may find themselves without access to a vehicle or a way to drive the vehicle home. The cost of replacing many modern electronic keys can be expensive. Even if paid by the valet service, the time and hassle involved can be very irritating to the vehicle owner.